Features

Introduction

In recent years, the United Nations and other multilateral organizations have joined activists, nongovernmental organizations, human rights treaty committees, national governments, transnational courts, and foundations to form a matrix of networks that use human rights as the basis for global governance. In place of more traditional and widely recognized civil and political rights, this matrix of human rights governance networks promotes the recognition, enforcement, and funding of a wide range of ambiguous economic, social, and cultural rights. This section tracks the continuing development and adaptation of this network and its implications for national sovereignty.

International Organizations

September 14, 2017

Emilie Poisson of the nongovernmental organization Convergences has argued that the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a “universal agenda” around which partnership-based global governance can develop in furtherance of an idealized global future.

September 14, 2017

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein has claimed that the freedom of the press is “under attack” in the US because of President Donald Trump’s assertions that particular media companies are “fake news.”

September 14, 2017

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has argued that the UN should view peacekeeping missions more comprehensively by pursuing the international organization's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a way to foster an environment of “sustainable peace.”

September 14, 2017

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee has added Vienna's historic center to its "List of World Heritage in Danger" due to a planned development project that the Committee says threatens the "outstanding universal value of the site."

September 14, 2017

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics has published an article pushing countries around the world to gather comprehensive data from their education systems and send it to UN agencies in support of the international organization's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to education on and promotion of sustainable development.